feat(smoke-tests): switch to startTestBackend, delegate OCI download to install-dynamic-plugins.py

Replace createBackend() with startTestBackend() for a minimal, focused
smoke test that only validates dynamic plugin loading. Remove 23 static
plugin dependencies and the in-process OCI download logic in favor of
the upstream install-dynamic-plugins.py script fetched at CI time.

Made-with: Cursor

Signed-of-by: rlan@redhat.com

Author: rostalan

.github/workflows/run-workspace-smoke-tests.yaml

@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ jobs:
           fi
           skopeo --version
 
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: pip install pyyaml
+
       - name: Authenticate to GHCR
         run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | skopeo login ghcr.io -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin
 
@@ -63,6 +66,21 @@ jobs:
           echo "=== dynamic-plugins.test.yaml (first 40 lines) ==="
           head -40 ./artifacts/dynamic-plugins.test.yaml || true
 
+      # TODO: Replace with native TypeScript implementation once available upstream.
+      - name: Download install-dynamic-plugins.py
+        run: |
+          curl -fsSL \
+            "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-developer/rhdh/3efb9cc140ff/scripts/install-dynamic-plugins/install-dynamic-plugins.py" \
+            -o ./artifacts/harness/install-dynamic-plugins.py
+
+      - name: Download and extract plugins
+        working-directory: ./artifacts/harness
+        run: |
+          cp ../dynamic-plugins.test.yaml dynamic-plugins.yaml
+          python3 install-dynamic-plugins.py ./dynamic-plugins-root
+        env:
+          SKIP_INTEGRITY_CHECK: "true"
+
       - name: Install smoke test dependencies
         working-directory: ./artifacts/harness
         run: npm install --ignore-scripts 2>&1 | tail -5
@@ -77,13 +95,17 @@ jobs:
           [ -f ../app-config.yaml ] && CONFIG_ARGS="$CONFIG_ARGS --config ../app-config.yaml"
           [ -f ../app-config.test.yaml ] && CONFIG_ARGS="$CONFIG_ARGS --config ../app-config.test.yaml"
 
+          GENERATED_CFG="./dynamic-plugins-root/app-config.dynamic-plugins.yaml"
+          [ -f "$GENERATED_CFG" ] && CONFIG_ARGS="$CONFIG_ARGS --config $GENERATED_CFG"
+
           ENV_ARGS=""
           [ -f ../test.env ] && ENV_ARGS="--env-file ../test.env"
 
-          echo "Running: node smoke-test.mjs --plugins-yaml ../dynamic-plugins.test.yaml $CONFIG_ARGS $ENV_ARGS"
+          echo "Running: node smoke-test.mjs --plugins-yaml ../dynamic-plugins.test.yaml --skip-download $CONFIG_ARGS $ENV_ARGS"
 
           node smoke-test.mjs \
             --plugins-yaml ../dynamic-plugins.test.yaml \
+            --skip-download \
             $CONFIG_ARGS \
             $ENV_ARGS \
             2>&1 | tee ../smoke-test.log
@@ -136,4 +158,4 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Cleanup
         if: always()
-        run: rm -rf ./artifacts/harness/dynamic-plugins-root ./artifacts/harness/.tmp-oci || true
+        run: rm -rf ./artifacts/harness/dynamic-plugins-root || true

smoke-tests/app-config.yaml

@@ -1,45 +1,5 @@
-app:
-  title: Backstage Test App
-  baseUrl: http://localhost:7007
-
-backend:
-  baseUrl: http://localhost:7007
-  listen:
-    port: 7007
-  database:
-    client: better-sqlite3
-    connection: ":memory:"
-  csp:
-    connect-src: ["'self'", "http:", "https:"]
-  cors:
-    origin: http://localhost:7007
-    methods: [GET, POST, PUT, DELETE]
-    credentials: true
-
-auth:
-  environment: development
-  providers:
-    guest: {}
-
-# Minimal catalog configuration.
-catalog:
-  rules:
-    - allow: [Component, API, Group, User, Template, Location]
-  locations: []
-
-# This is required by the frontend app plugin for schema validation.
 dynamicPlugins:
-  # This directory is used by the backend to unpack OCI plugins.
   rootDirectory: ./dynamic-plugins-root
-  # Disable the default directory scanning for local plugins
   sources:
     local: {}
-  # A dummy frontend config is sufficient for our backend-only test.
   frontend: {}
-
-# Add minimal analytics key to satisfy app bundle schema validation.
-analytics: {}
-
-# Disable the permission plugin for simplified testing.
-permission:
-  enabled: false

smoke-tests/package.json

@@ -10,36 +10,14 @@
     "prettier:fix": "prettier --write ."
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@backstage/backend-app-api": "1.5.0",
-    "@backstage/backend-defaults": "0.15.2",
     "@backstage/backend-dynamic-feature-service": "0.7.9",
     "@backstage/backend-plugin-api": "1.7.0",
-    "@backstage/catalog-client": "1.13.0",
-    "@backstage/catalog-model": "1.7.6",
+    "@backstage/backend-test-utils": "1.4.0",
     "@backstage/cli-node": "0.2.18",
     "@backstage/config": "1.3.6",
     "@backstage/config-loader": "1.10.8",
     "@backstage/errors": "1.2.7",
-    "@backstage/plugin-auth-backend": "0.27.0",
-    "@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-guest-provider": "0.2.16",
-    "@backstage/plugin-auth-node": "0.6.13",
-    "@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend": "3.4.0",
-    "@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-logs": "0.1.19",
-    "@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-scaffolder-entity-model": "0.2.17",
-    "@backstage/plugin-catalog-node": "2.0.0",
-    "@backstage/plugin-events-backend": "0.5.11",
-    "@backstage/plugin-events-node": "0.4.19",
-    "@backstage/plugin-permission-backend": "0.7.9",
-    "@backstage/plugin-permission-backend-module-allow-all-policy": "0.2.17",
-    "@backstage/plugin-permission-common": "0.9.6",
-    "@backstage/plugin-permission-node": "0.7.9",
-    "@backstage/plugin-proxy-backend": "0.6.10",
-    "@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend": "3.1.3",
-    "@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node": "0.6.3",
-    "@backstage/plugin-search-backend": "2.0.12",
-    "@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-catalog": "0.3.12",
     "@backstage/types": "1.2.2",
-    "better-sqlite3": "12.8.0",
     "js-yaml": "4.1.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {